know, my counterpart denied it. [laughter] >> yeah. >> think about how -- so that sound you hear is ronald reagan rolling in his grave in simi valley, california. [laughter] >> you can watch this and other programs online at booktv.org. [applause] >> good morning. we, this is the last regular convocation of the semester, right, david? and and -- huh? >> [inaudible] >> i know, harlem globetrotters, but they had to use their convos gifts by the end of the semester, right? all right. so i see a lot of them are using them today. [laughter] it's my fault. we gave them an extra one, corey and robert, because they turned out in such big numbers to vote. so a lot of them are using it today, but don't take it personally. it has nothing to do with you guys. it's just the end of the semester. we've got some very special guests here today. first, i want to mention there's

an article that i tweeted out last night that really compliments you as a student body. it's from virginia business magazine, and it's, it's about how liberty, about how you as students have gone the extra mile to serve others and to fulfill the christian mission of the school. i really think you'll enjoy it if you take time to read it. it's by heather hayes, a local reporter here, who wrote for that magazine. so if you get a chance, take a look at that. you'll be proud of yourselves. first of all, steve strang is here. he's the founder of charisma magazine. he's an award-winning journalist, entrepreneur, businessman and author. he's also -- his newest book is "god and donald trump." steve is -- charisma magazine, i've always heard, has a bigger circulation than christianity today. i believe that's still true, and he's just doing incredible work in the christian world in so many ways. thank you for being here, steve.

and also we have corey lewandowski. he was, he's a political operative, a comment commentator for one america news network, fox news, cnn. he and i became good friends last year during the campaign because he was the former campaign manager for donald trump's 2016 presidential campaign. he's co-author of the book "let trump be trump," because everybody that's ever been around him knows if you don't let him be him, you're going to get kicked out. so i think that's a good title. david bossie's also here. david and corey have been on news shows all week, fox and other networks, talking about their book. but david has served as president of citizens united since 2001, as deputy campaign manager for trump's 2016 campaign. he was ranked number two in politico's top 50 most influential people in american politics. he's co-author of the book i just mentioned, "let trump be trump." david has produced 25 documentaries since 2004 and

co-produced six feature-length films. and so we're going to -- please welcome all three of our guests to liberty university, steve, corey and david. [applause] we know you've got exams coming out, so we'll try to get you out early today. [cheers and applause] >> all right. robert, is in the second convo that you've done with center for law? suspect for law and -- center for law and government. this is the second convocation that -- robert heads the center for law and government. he's a former congressman from southern virginia. and he only stayed in, what, four years? >> six years. >> six years and he got out. i wish they'd always get out after six years. [laughter] anyhow. where do you want me to sit? [inaudible conversations]

all right. i'll let you guys lead off and just tell us, steve, start with you, tell us what you've, what you've been doing with charisma magazine and what -- tell us about the new book and just anything you'd like -- >> well, charisma magazine is a spiritual magazine that i, we've devoted our entire october issue to donald trump. and we published articles from christian prophets, modern-day prophets who predicted he'd win against all odds, and he did. and that led, one thing to another, until i wrote this book because i thought it was important to talk about the spiritual aspect of what's going on, not just the politics. >> well, you supported cruz first, right? >> boo. [laughter] >> i've had so many, so many christians come up to me and tell me recently i supported cruz, i thought you were crazy when you supported trump, but you turned out to be right.

>> you were right. >> and things like david, like supreme court justice gorsuch, and you see trump recognizing jerusalem as the capital of israel, what many prime ministers have -- [cheers and applause] what many presidents have promised to do but never had the guts or the integrity to follow through, you know, you have to -- mike evans, who is a big supporter on that issue, is calling trump the modern-day equivalent of king cyrus from the old testament. do you want to comment on that? >> well, i agree with that. in fact, for me that was kind of what made me vote for trump, because, you know, he's not the kind of person that evangelicals would normally look, you know, someone more like mike huckabee is more my speed. but a friend of mine said that he believed that god was raising him up like cyrus. and the bible says in isaiah 45 i have called you even though

you did not know me. and it was like, you know, the people in the bible were not perfect at all, but yet god used them, and he used a pagan king from persia to send his people back to egypt. >> and so many people have -- like jesus said, may clean the outside of the platter, but inside are ravenous wolves. i keep going back to that passage -- >> you're absolutely right. >> they seem like good, decent people, good family people, but when it comes down to -- look how they acted when trump won. i mean, they've been trying to sabotage him ever since, and they just don't act anything but christian. >> you know, the amazing thing is he has championed the values that you and i would, and most of these student, would believe in better than people that had better credentials like george w. bush who was a good man, but

he just didn't come through on a lot of stuff. trump is coming through again and again and again, and i believe that gradually the people who don't like him are going to come over -- >> that's why i say when it comes to politics, jesus separated. he said render unto caesar the things that are caesar's, and to -- i always say that, i know. [laughter] [applause] you can't judge somebody according to how good they are and decide on who you're going to vote for based on that, because we're all sinners. and jesus said if you ever lusted after a man, after a woman in your heart, then you're just as guilty as guy that had adultery. they're all the same. you vote for the one who you think the going to vote the best for your country, and i think that's what evangelicals did. >> you're absolutely right. there's so much hypocrisy where people who have things in their own past -- >> the only difference is they never got caught. >> that's right. as christians, we believe people can change. and in my book i document that

about ten years ago something happened in donald trump's life. he started cleaning up his act, he started watching christian television, and i believe that he's a very different kind of man than some of the bad stereotypes that we're familiar with. >> i do too. i was the only one willing to go on tv and say that after the access hollywood videotape came out. but, corey, welcome to liberty -- welcome back to liberty. you were here with president trump last year? >> mr. president, i was here, and i was here with what is now to our president of the united states, and it's such an honor and privilege to be here. thank you for having us. >> has the campus changed a little bit since you were here? >> it's amazing. the growth from a year ago when i was here, you know, the dorm back behind us wasn't completed. what you've done at this school and across the country is just amazing, and thank you. >> if it weren't for the studentses and their attitude, you and i were talking backstage about how you were at harvard recently. tell us about that. >> you know, i grew up in a town called lowell, massachusetts, which is not a town of privilege --

[cheers and applause] i'm a blue collar guy who had the opportunity to be on an amazing ride with the most extraordinary candidate in the world. and harvard university called me and said would you come up and be one of our visiting fellows. and i went up there, and the difference between what president falwell has done here and what they do at harvard is night and day. it's amazing how you understand what the real america is like. and when you go to cambridge, massachusetts, they live in a fantasy world. they are so entitled up there. they think that everybody owes them, that they are the smartest, the greatest, the best. and what happened and what you guys have here is so different. and let me just give you one example. you know, about five years ago they wouldn't let me slow my truck down in front of cambridge, massachusetts, because they hate everything that trump stands for. they hate the fact that he's a populist, that he wants to make america great again, that he's not a globalist, that he wants to make sure the promises he

made on the campaign trail are fulfilled as a president. that's not what they want up there. they want rhetoric, they want things that make other countries great again, and it's so refreshing to come to a university where people care about their country again and it's okay to say merry christmas. [applause] you know, i've got to tell you about your president. i've got to tell you, because this is the honest to god truth, and jerry knows, the president knows i'm a truth teller. the day the access hollywood tape came out on donald trump, i made one phone call. the only one i made. because cnn, the president of cnn called me and said, corey, i need you to come on tv right away. i called president falwell, and i said, jerry, i need to go on television in the next three minutes, what do you want me to say? because every time as a campaign manager to donald trump i called the falwells, and the falwell family showed up. they were there as a steadfast

supporter of this president when nobody else was, and jerry and becky came out, and they helped campaign. and they saw in donald trump before anybody else did what this country needed. and he said to me and i repeated it verbatim, he said my father always said we're not electing a sunday schoolteacher, we're electing the next president of united states. and i went on television and i said that, and that hit home to so many people. because what president falwell just talked about is the hypocrisy of the left. all these people who make accusations against other candidates only to find out that their own house is not in order. and what we have finally seen is some of those things are coming back to haunt those very same people. i am so blessed and so privileged to be here at liberty university. thank you, president falwell, for the invitation. >> thank you, corey. [applause] i did notice that the only time the president calls me to go on tv is when he's in real trouble. [laughter] >> true.

>> he says i'm a warrior. i don't know, i don't know where he gets that from, but our students are the ones that deserve the credit for what's happened here at liberty. it's them that makes liberty a special place. [applause] we thank you guys for that. >> thank you. [applause] en randall wallace, who is from lynchburg, he made the movies braveheart, parallel harbor -- pearl harbor, secretaryuate, he went to his son's graduation at duke the next day, and he said he couldn't believe the difference in the attitude of the students. he said the same thing, it was we're entitled, we're the elite, we deserve the best in life. he said at liberty it was all about what can we do to serve others. and i think that's what's going to make you guys much more successful when you get out of here and you get in the real world because those are the attributes that really lead to true success. and i just, i just have to believe that those guys at duke and harvard are going to be working for you guys one day. [cheers and applause] >> that's the truth.

look, president falwell is so right, and he's so smart, and i've had the privilege of going to many of the so-called ivy league schools. i spoke at stanford, i spoke at oxford. it's the same sense of into entitlement that harvard had. what you have here are servants' hearts, something so very special that you don't have a sense of entitlement, and what you will achieve here because of your education at this institution and the values that you come out of here with are so much smear your than -- superior than all those entitled individuals at those ivy league schools who think that the world owes hem. that's because of the -- owes them. that's because of the leadership of president falwell. i am so thankful that you are here. i have an 11-year-old daughter, and she said to me, daddy, i want to go to harvard someday. i said, baby, you'll never go to harvard, right? [laughter] we don't care about those ivy league freaks. it's never going to happen. [laughter] i said what you're going to do, you're going to go to the greatest school that i've ever

known, which is liberty university. and i was here -- [cheers and applause] someday when my 11-year-old, who i love more than life, is going to apply for a school, i'm going to call president falwell and say, baby, please let her in, because i love her. [laughter] and she's going to sit in these very same seats that you do and get the faith and the love and the blessings that you guys have here every day. because without that, you cannot be successful. and that's what you get at this university, so thank you. [applause] >> i agree. you know, corey called me last january on a saturday. i'm not sure who called, but at 11:00 in the morning, said can you be in iowa at 5:00. so we jumped on a plane. i said you've got to pay for the plane. the lawyer says liberty can't pay for it. so they paid for the plane. and we were there, we showed up for the rally, full auditorium like this, and i said what am i here for? they said, you're the moderator.

i said, whoa, okay. so it was just trump and me went out on stage, and i asked the questions. luckily, i'd been texting sean hannity, he gave me some ideas. we went on the plane that night, and i think -- i never told you this, corey -- i think i talked too much about liberty when i introduced him, because the next morning when we were in another city and we were getting ready to do another rally, he said, jerry, i'm going to send you out to des moines to do some interviews. i said, oh, i must have talked too much about liberty. then we did the second rally, and i toned it down a little bit, and afterwards he was like, who the hell needs trump? jerry's the smartest guy i know. that's what he said. excuse my language. [laughter] but he said, after that -- [laughter] after that he said i want you to do the rest of the rallies now. so i learned my lesson after that first one. i never told you that story. anyhow, david, welcome to liberty.

>> thank you for having me. >> yep. you and i have not gotten to know each other that well, but tell me a little bit -- you were here a few weeks ago. >> i was just here, down for constitution week about a month or so ago, and enjoyed my time here. i actually came here the first time in 1987 when i was just a kid. i was in my early 20s, i was working for senate majority leader bob dole when he was running for president. came here and that weekend we had pat robertson with your dad, and it was an amazing experience, and i've been blessed to be back many times since. i actually have a swriewrn in high school -- a junior in high school, so we're going to need a little help next year ourselves. she's actually a tremendous student, much better than her dad. and we're, we're going to be look to send her down here. we have, we're blessed with four kids. we live right outside of washington, d.c. in montgomery county, maryland. [cheers and applause]

maryland usually doesn't get that big of a round of applause, i'll be honest with you. it's a fairly liberal state, but thank you. and so i had the distinction honor and privilege of being do the deputy campaign manager. i came in with steve bannon and kellyanne conway at the end of the campaign in august and ran the general election. and then i was the deputy executive director for the presidential transition team, is so i helped in my little way of building the cabinet and recommending a lot of the folks for jobs and trying to build out the white house. so it was a tremendous experience. i was there, i walked into the president's office in trump tower the night that the billy bush tape came out. and i believe the first phone call he made after he spoke to governor pence was to you. he was on the phone with you when i walked into the office.

and so i know what a special person and a special relationship you have with the president. and it is, you've been a rock the -- to him. and it has been a blessing to him, your relationship with him. so i just want to say thank you for that, because he -- you've seen him and helped him through a lot of issues over the years. and you can see his courage just this week with recognizing jerusalem as the capital and what he has done. he is the 13th president to say he would recognize jerusalem, but he's the first president to actually do it. and so it's been an amazing week of leadership coming from the white house. [applause] so i've had, i've had the privilege of knowing the president a long time. maybe we'll get a chance to visit about that. but thank you. >> [inaudible] >> so, dave, you've known -- among the three guests, you've

known the president longer than anyone. you got to know him in 2010 through steve wynn and ended up kind of being an adviser to him as he approached the 2016 election. i guess my question is, is the message of nationalism, america first, is that finish was that sincere? is that something that -- because a lot of people say, oh, trump is just about making money for himself, about his brand. how sincere is he in that message? has he been talking about that message from the beginning? and then, obviously, it carried out into success. >> you know, it -- that's a great question. and if you look back throughout 20 or 30 years of videotape that's out there -- videotape is what we used to use -- [laughter] it's a, and you watch oprah winfrey interviews from 20 years ago, you see this president talking about bad trade deals

and what it, what it takes for america to succeed economically around the world, and you see him talking about these blue collar issues. and we called him the blue collar billionaire because he connected with people. and so this has been something that's been true to him for a long time. you're right, i got to know, i got to know president trump not politically. and that's one of the things in our book, "let trump be trump," we try to talk about. we try to talk about the man and his incredible kindness and how generous he is to all those around him. i'm just going to share a personal story. i got a chance to know him, steve wynn is a friend of mine, is a famous las vegas casino magnate and a successful businessman and another marylander, i might add. and he was helping me raise

money for children's hospital in washington washington, d.c. where my son -- not just at that hospital, but many hospitals -- had a series of surgeries for a brain aneurysm and two open heart surgeries. and he struggled for life as a baby. and i wanted to be able to help other children and other parents through raising money for children's hospital so that others could have what my son had, which is the best health care in the world. and it is, it is through that that steve wynn said, dave, i'm going to introduce you to donald trump who owns the property where you hold that charity event. he just bought it, by coincidence. so he introduces me to then-mr. trump, and i go meet with him. he is so kind. and in the first meeting, he

gave so much and allowed me to become part of his family really. and it was an amazing thing that he has befriended my children over the years and helped me raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for children's hospital. >> why do you think that the media doesn't give him more credit for that? >> the mainstream media wants to build him into this character, right, this caricature of somebody that they want, which is somebody who, you know, is a kind of a figure that people will dislike. and so i through this book, and corey and i through "let trump be trump," really tried to connect the people with the man. it's the behind the scenes stories of the campaign. he, you know, he does -- we say it, in the book, he says we tear our faces off on the airplane. with or without a parachute, we would have liked to have got off the plane a few times.

but we had an amazing experience with this man, and he is just so kind and generous. it's one of the things that we wanted to -- and i talk about my son's journey in the book. >> corey, talk about the media, you know? he, i think it's safe to say he has an antagonistic relationship with the media. i don't think it has always been that way, you know? he's been the master of the media. how much has trump been able to take this-media sentiment that is shared, i think, by so many of his supporters and so many of americans, has he been able to turn that into an advantage, and can you talk a little bit about the tweets, you know? and what that was like from january '15 for 18 months as sort of trump established himself as the front-runner. >> well, look, someday they'll come out, there'll be a book that comes out that says the tweets that were never published, okay? it'll be the greatest book ever written -- [laughter] because if you think the ones he's put out already are good,

you should see the ones we never put out. >> wow. >> it's amazing what candidate trump had the opportunity to do with the fake news. he held them accountable. for the first time in our lifetimes, we had a fighter who through his social media activity -- facebook, twitter, instagram -- has 100 plus million followers, and he can bypass the fake news. and just this week, not just during the campaign where he fought back every time and said, hey, there's a beauty from npr, you're a real beauty, give me a question, right? he did it all the time. what he did and what he has done is he's called out the fake news. this week we saw an abc reporter give a false story about donald trump and general flynn. and only through donald trump's sheer ferocity of attacking the media did abc recant that story and suspend that journalist. this week we saw a story that

bob mueller has subpoenaed deutsche bank records. six hours later after donald trump said that is not true through his social media activities did they recant the story. but never in our lifetime have we had such a fighter in the to oval office. and what the american people saw and many of you were here last year when candidate trump was here, was a man who wakes up every day and fights for what he believes in. but i have to tell you one story because it's so important. it's probably one of the greatest things that's ever happened in my life. president trump is elected, and he gets sworn in on january 20th, and he calls me and he says, corey -- he says, corey? i said, yes, sir. he says, you never come visit me. this was february of this year, and he says would you come see me in the oval office? i said, absolutely. i'd never been to the oval office because i'm a poor kid from lowell, massachusetts. and i walk into the oval office, and there's the leader of our free world sitting behind a

resolute desk. and to his far right, my left, is the vice president of the united states. and i stand at the precipice of the oval, right outside. and he looks at me and sees me and says, fete in here. -- get in here. i walk into those hallowed grounds, the oval office. and he says, my man. come here. [laughter] and he stands up and he gives me a hug, and he turn toss the vice president of the united states, and he says, mike, do you know who this is? and the vice president says, yes, sir, that's corey. and he says, mike, do you know who this is? and the vice president says, yes, sir, that's corey lewandowski. he says, mike, this is the guy who said you could be the vice president of the united states. and i said, well, sir, 60 million people said that, but i'm with you. and mike pence, because i was the chairman of the vice presidential selection committee, stood up, and he said, corey, will you take my chair. i said, mr. vice president, i cannot do that.

and he said, would you do me a favor? i said i'll do anything you ask, sir. he said would you pray with me? as we sat in the oval office, our leaders asked for god's help and forgiveness as they lead this great country. and i have never been so humbled of anything in my life. [applause] and mike pence and donald trump are such great leaders. mike pence sat there, and we prayed together, the president of the united states, the vice president of the united states, myself and nobody else in the room. and then after the vice president finished praying, because he was going to go represent our country at a speech, trump hit him on the shoulder and said, get the hell out of here, which was the greatest. [laughter] but i'll tell you, it's so amazing. >> that's so uncanny, because we experienced almost the same thing. we went up there in february, and we went in vice president pence's office first. what struck me is he has an open bible on his desk all the time. and he reads it every day.

and he was so warm and welcoming and personable. then we go into the president's office, and the president was the same way. he's just -- he had a red button on his desk in a box, and i said what's that for right there? he said, oh, everybody thinks that's the nuclear button. he reached over and pushed it, and a butler came in and brought him a dr. pepper. [laughter] and we, and my daughter -- >> the most important button in the office. >> my daughter caroline said, mr. president, you look like you've lost weight. he said, yeah, i don't know if i've lost weight or not, but there's no scale in the white house. i don't know. and he said they only -- i used to snack all day long, but he said now they're giving me -- remember on the plane he ate three cheeseburgers and a large fry? >> yes, sir. >> i remember on the plane president -- he was the campaign -- candidate then. he'd ask me what i thought of president obama. i said, well, it just seems like he's trying to bring america to its knees. he stopped and he said, corey,

he yelled back for you, jerry thinks obama wants to bring the country to its knees. i don't know if you remember that, but i'm getting off the subject. [laughter] but anyway, at the end of our meeting with trump after about 30 minutes, he said the same thing. y'all get out of here, go on. but that's just the way he is. he makes everybody feel like he's their best friend. >> but, jerry, the fact that they pray in to to oval office, they ask for good's blessing and god's forgiveness should never be understated. that's the side of our leaders that the media doesn't want to show. that is the side where they ask for the strength of god to give them the ability to lead our great country into a path which it has not been led in for the eight years of the previous administration. the media doesn't want to talk about that, but donald trump and mike pence are men of faith, and they have god in everything they do, and it is never reported how important that is for this administration. [applause] >> that's right. the faith, our faith in christ is really what, is really what

unites us across all political lines. you were talking about redemption earlier. i was with pat caddell a few weeks ago down at mar-a-lago, and he said that martin luther king was asked back in the '60s why are you a southern baptist after the southern baptists had been for segregation and haven't been your with side. and he said i am and i always will be because it's a redemptive religion. it really is what unites us all. and i think that's what we -- the media tries to divide us, tries to divide blacks from whites, rich from poor, you know, name it, just every category, women from men. and it's something be we as christians can get past that and love each other, love everybody, then i think then we'll see our country really change. and i just truly believe that. but, steve, tell us about your book. >> well, first let me say that "let trump be trump" is a great book. i'm about a third of the way through it -- >> thank you. >> -- and some of the stories that you've heard today are in

the book. you'll want to get it. their book is really more a lift the hood and look under and see what's going on. mine is more of an overview. and hillary clinton wrote a book called "what happened," and my book answers the question. and that is that god intervened in this election. [applause] in the direction that our country was going. there were millions of christians praying, and god answered our prayers in a way we did not expect without -- with a person we didn't even necessarily like initially until we got to know him more. and, you know, i'm trying to say that god is sovereign, you know? this is -- you talk about the mainstream media, they don't talk about god at all unless it has something to do with, you know, right-wing politics. but god is sovereign no matter who's in the white house. he lifted people up. -- he lifts people up. the bible says that. and i believe god put him in the white house. in fact, former congressman bob mcewen said this week, i was

at a meeting, and he got up and said if you cannot see god's hand on donald trump, you are deaf, dumb and blind. and i believe that. >> bobbook uni, you know the -- yeah. he's one of our favorite speakers here. >> i guess this is for both of you all, corey and dave. it's been said that trumpism is bigger than trump. and i wonder what you think about that. you know, this president will be up for re-election in 2020, and you see what is happening to him in the approval ratings and those sorts of things. remains to be seen what happens between now and then. but my question is, is after he's gone whether he runs again and serves out a second term or not, does what -- his message, does it go beyond, go beyond him? is it bigger than he is? >> i'm going to go quickly, and

then maybe you can. donald trump was elected as a change agent. and i think that's going to continue to be that movement, the trump movement, is that washington, d.c. has been broken for a long time. and it is, doesn't work for the american people, and i think we can all see that no matter what age you are. you can be just as frustrated as anybody else that washington, d.c. is not working for us. and donald trump told the american people during the campaign that i am a change agent, and i'm going to go and fix the broken status quo. and i am going to kick in a couple of doors, and is i'm going to flip over a couple of desks, and i'm going to make the establishment uncomfortable. and we can see that that's the pushback that he gets around washington, d.c. for the last ten months. they're a little bit afraid of him and what he will do. and so i believe this tax reform package which just passed the senate last week is really the

first big legislative victory of the president's, but it's kind of the straw that might break the camel's back. maybe with one wig victory -- big victory, the president is going to be able to succeed in very big ways over time. and i think that the trumpism continues well after president trump is gone. >> look, i talk about this, we talk about this a lot in the book, right, "let trump be trump." what he did during that election was unparalleled. the way he saw the pulse of the american people, the way he tapped into that not just here at convocation which he came to, but across the country. people would turn out in droves. and in the book we talk about how the mainstream media never gave him the credit. i heard this all the time as the campaign manager. people would wait in line for eight hours in a blizzard to get into a donald trump rally in kingsboro, massachusetts, and say those people aren't going to show up on the polls, these people aren't real, jeb bush is

a little rusty because he hadn't run for office in eight years. well, donald trump hadn't run for office in 70 years. he'd never been part of the system. and what we talk about in the book is how he completely disemboweled the republican establishment, how he destroyed all the gene juses -- geniuses by the veer ve processty of his schedule. six, seven, eight stops a day in four time zones. and what that did was it ignited people who had not been involved in politics for 30 years. you go to michigan, you go to pennsylvania, you go to wisconsin, places where republicans don't win anymore, and you know what they said? they said we're tired of the lies in washington. and what we write about in the book is exactly what dave said, washington's been so broken that donald trump saw it and said i will fix it. and for the first time in my lifetime and yours as well, we have a businessman the oval office who is not stymied by 30

years of washington, d.c. dogma of the way it's always been done. and one quick story is we have this great trading partner, it's called taiwan. maybe you've heard of it, right? and the president of taiwan, she calls up the white house. she calls donald trump in trump tower right after he's elected. and he's sitting at his beautiful desk on the 26th floor. president falwell knows it, and i've been there many, many times. the woman from the front desk says that's the president of tie won on -- taiwan online one. nineteen other guys said, sir, you cannot take that phone call, we to not recognize taiwan. and he says, excuse me? what do they want? sir, she'd like to congratulate you on your election win. sir, please do not take that phone call. we cannot have you speak with the president of taiwan, it will destroy our relationship with china. hello, bing! [laughter] he doesn't care. he's not beholden no those special interests in washington, that's what we write about.

he is the but collar billionaire. he's a man who funded his own campaign, and he wants to do what's right for america, and that's what the week's all about -- the book's all about. >> another example of that is when he was meeting with a group of evangelicals early last year, maybe late 2015, and they said, we like you, mr. president, but we can't support you because of the johnson amendment. we're not allowed because of the irs, we all held tax-exempt organizations, he said, what are you talking about? they explained to him the johnson amendment. i guess lyndon johnson added it to another bill in the '50s, and it basically took away the free speech rights of people like me and pastors, and he said, well, i'm going to get rid of that. and sure enough, he kept his promise, and it's another big thing he did for evangelicals, is he gave pastors and heads of nonprofit organizations like this one the right to speak, to have political free speech. you might have something to comment about that. >> you know, this is significant

because i've never even heard of a politician talking about the johnson amendment, yet it's very -- and when you're in the nonprofit world, you know about it. and isn't it interesting how fast that donald trump got it. you didn't have to draw him a picture. he figured it out real quick and said it's wrong. and he fixed it with executive actions, but he also says he's going to get legislation through, and i believe that he will, to fix it permanently. this is just an example of the leadership that he is giving this country which just confounds everybody. but it gets back to what aye said in my book is that god -- i've said in my book which is that god had a plan, and he raised him up for such a time as this, and he's continuing to bless him. >> the johnson amendment was one of the first things he talked about when he came hear last time. did you want to add something? >> other than two corinthians. [laughter] other than two corinthians. >> actually, that's -- a lot of people say it that way. >> by the way, i don't know if

john luke robertson's here, but his family influenced the president's thinking on the johnson amendment a lot. phil robertson, his grandfather, spent a lot of time in his ear about it. and it was a, i was there a lot when they were talking about it. it was always a wonderful thing to have that family around him. >> well, and back to something you said, corey, about career politicians. you know, i think the american people have figured those guys out, and they don't want them anymore. but the question is whether the republican party's going to get smart and stop running them against democrats. in this virginia they ran one against the democrat, and he lost. and i think it's going to keep happening over and over. we need some more nontradition allocates. how are we going to the recruit people from the private sector to come in, serve for six years and get out of there? >> well, i can tell you, first of all, that's a greated idea, robert.

[laughter] get you off this campus maybe again one day. but, look, i actually got my start in politics on a college campus in 1984. which makes me really old, i know. but it is, i was there for ronald reagan's re-election campaign. at the university of maryland. and it was a tremendous, tremendous thing to cut my teeth and get interested in the conservative movement. and i hope that each of you will consider getting involved in your communities, getting involved -- it doesn't have to be, you know, in politics, but figure people out. think about it. ask questions. that's the most important thing you can do as young folks and be active and engaged. and so, look, you know, corey -- i'm just going to wrap up. you know, corey and i talk about in our book the ferocity of the campaign and the schedule, but it was run by about, well, it was six or ten of us that were

the core group. and the president was 70 or 71 when he was running. and he drove us into the ground. his physical stamina, his motor ran at an unbelievable speed. and it was fed by fast food. i don't know if any of you have seen the media explosion over his diet of mcdonald's -- we had four food groups on the plane, basically, mcdonald's, kentucky fried chicken, pizza and diet coke. that was -- [laughter] that's basically the fuel for the campaign. and we, you know, look, we have a lot of really funny stuff in the book about whether it's us pressing the president's pants on plane while he's still wearing them -- [laughter] you know? which you had to be very careful. or our diets or just how we would fill five or six stadiums a day, 10, 15, 20,000 people a day, three different time zones

across the country, day in and day out, and hillary clinton was having trouble filling a high school cafeteria. and that was when we knew, we knew we had the finger on the pulse of the american people and what election day might behold when we saw those types of things. >> that's great advice, david. all of you should take note. get your careers established, do something outside politics, and then when you're ready, try to -- go in and serve for just a short time, then go back to what you're doing because you'll have a better perspective for what's needed for the country than anybody who spends their whole lives in politics. i believe that. >> president falwell, you're so right. look, career politicians have over destroyed our country. it was never meant to be a lifestyle. you know, we just saw, you know, congressman conyers resign in disgrace. he was elected in 1962 or something, right? >> 1965. >> i mean, this is insane. this is not what it's supposed to be. go out, have a productive

career, create jobs, do something of value. don't go to washington and say this is the best job i've ever had, because that's what happens. and they take these guys out of washington in pine boxes because they leave when they're 97 years old if they're lucky, right? all they want to do is be career politicians, and they've done nothing. and what the donald trump revolution has showed us is that when you create jobs and you create value and you create a business and you employ people, the american people respect that, and that's what they want in washington. so go out and do something different than spend your life in politics. [applause] >> and i just -- [applause] that's exactly right. and one of my colleagues up in washington who is a true hero of the conservative movement and a 25-year friend of mine is amy paul in and i don't know if maggie is in the audience, she's a sophomore here.

your mom is one of the greatest leaders of the conservative movement and a tremendous patriot. and if you're here, but i'd love to say hi to you afterwards if possible. >> yeah, okay. also hannah lankford's a student here. her dad, senator james lankford -- >> oh, yeah. >> -- was in the ministry. he ran in oklahoma, and my guess is he probably will go back to what he was doing before. i just realized we're completely out of time, and i promised them we'd get them out early. i was having too much fun, sorry. but both of the books, steve's and dave's and corey's, we're winning to give a special deal for students, or $5 apiece -- or, no, no, $6 apiece or two for $10, okay? i came up with that idea before convo to. [laughter] anyhow, it's just -- the books are great -- >> we're going to be here to sign them, i hope, if you like. >> we'll be here to sign them. >> they'll be on both sides,

right? maybe all over there. anyhow, god bless. you're dismissed. thank you. >> thank you,? >> thank you. [applause] >> here's a look at some of the best nonfiction books of 2017 according to bloomberg. former reddit ceo ellen pao details her fight against the tech industry's discrimination of women in recess. historian david to shin sky reports on the history of new york city's bellevue hospital, and jason fagone recalls the life of elizabeth senate who helped invent the modern science of cryptology in the woman who smashed codes. in hit refresh, microsoft's ceo

weighs in on the reinvention of microsoft. and also on bloomberg's best nonfiction books of 2017 list, amy goldstein looks at the effects on a community caused by the closing of a gm plant in janesville. >> it was two days before christmas of 2008 that this general motors plant closed down, something that was just unprecedented in this town and very hard for people to get their heads around, that this time was going to be different. and i knew that no place i was going to pick would be exactly like every place in the country, but as much as possible it seems to me a good idea to pick a community in which the pattern of job losses matched the broad pattern of job losses in the great recession. so nationally and in janesville, a lot of the jobs that disappeared were ones that had paid pretty well, but had not required much formal education. that was certainly true of these auto worker jobs. and in this recession broadly and? janesville, more men than women

lost jobs. so i could go on. but there's a sense that the kind of job loss that happened in this small wisconsin city was typical of the country. that appealed to me. i also had a sense when i started to research this place that janesville fit nicely into the sweep of u.s. history. on that first reporting trip where i met stan malem, somebody else told me i should find a youtube video of a speech that then-senator barack obama had given in the janesville assembly plant in february of 2008 when he was campaigning to try to win the wisconsin primary. and this was, it turned out, a very big, important economic speech in his campaign in which he lays out his agenda. and in that speech he says two things that when i discovered the speech on my -- just watching it on my laptop in my own office at home, it just gave me goose bumps. he said, first of all, basically, if the country elected him and followed his economic prescription, he said

this plant will be here for another hundred years. the other thing he said was the promise of janesville is the promise of america. >> of these authors have appeared on booking tv. you can watch them online on our web site, booktv.org. >> i was up here on the side, and they were here. obviously, the president, president trump is giving his address. he's sworn in, sworn into office, hand up, then he speaks. hillary said that she was sitting there, and donald trump was talking about what had happened to the country and how things had, you know, flatlined. median income had actually declined in real dollar terms and that people wanted a new approach to the border, to these trade deals, etc. and hillary says that george w. bush looked at her and said, this is the craziest, weirdest

bunch of horse hockey that i've ever heard, like that, like laughing. to hillary. and, you know, the media loved that. you know, they love when a republican like george w. bush or pick your republican, john mccain, lindsey graham, jeff flake, go on and on. they love it when a republican trashes a conservative populist, especially a republican president in office like donald trump. and i thought to myself that kind of really because, that little vignette of bush snickering with hillary, laughing at donald trump, that explains this. trump didn't come out of nowhere. he didn't kind of just pop out of a, you know, a vacuum, and he didn't win, by the way, because

of jim comey or the russians. he didn't win because he's a celebrity. he didn't win because he was self-financed. he didn't win because of facebook ads. donald trump won this election because americans in the critical states that make up our electoral college were kind of sick of being snickeredded at. they were kind of tired of being laughed at. they were tired of being told one thing in the campaign season and having governance as another thing. [applause] >> you can watch this and other programs online at booktv.org. ..